Page 117 of Hook

He falls to the floor, struggling to claw himself to his feet as I walk toward him. The click of a gun stops me in my tracks.

I turn to glance at Smyth and Tilly. Both of them have guns pointed at me.

“Not a step further,” Smyth warns.

I smirk as I expected them to stick their noses in. “A fight is a fight. You two are breaking the rules.”

“Fuck the rules,” Tilly says.

Smyth glares at me with a hatred I struggle to understand, even after his explanation. Piero’s the one to intervene surprisingly. “He’s right. Lower your weapons.” He struggles to his feet, glaring at me.

“What’s going on here?” Jovani’s voice booms and when I turn to face him, I see Gwen by his side.

Fuck.

I had this, and Gwen had to intervene. Now she’s walked herself and her father into a dangerous situation and I’m not sure yet how I’m going to get myself out, let alone them.

“What’s going on is the man you sold your daughter to is a two-faced liar,” I announce, glaring at Piero, who has managed to peel himself off the floor. “His plan is to murder both you and Gwen after the wedding.”

Jovani’s eyes narrow as he glances between me and Piero. “Piero and I have an agreement. You can’t go banding around accusations without proof.”

Piero chuckles as blood gushes from his nose. “Gullible to a fault. Aren’t you, Jovani?”

Jovani’s brow furrows. “What?”

Piero points at him. “Of course I intend to kill you both. With you out of the picture, I’d have control of both San Diego and Los Angeles.” He smirks at them both. “No one would be able to stop me, including Cillian Murphy.”

“Murphy?” Jovani asks, eyes narrowing.

It’s clear he has no idea what is going on here.

Gwen steps closer, making my blood pressure skyrocket as she’s in danger right now and I’m too far away. “And why would you have to kill me?” She demands.

“I can’t deal with the hysterics of a wife whose father I murdered. It would be doing us both a kindness.”

“You’re a monster,” she says, her eyes glowing with hatred.

He shrugs. “Never professed to be anything other. It’s people around me expecting too much from me that gets them in trouble, isn’t it, Cillian?”

Clenching my jaw, I ignore his dig. “Trusting anyone is what gets you into trouble. I learned that the hard way.”

I don’t see a safe way out of this for any of us. Gwen is too far from me for my liking, and Piero is unpredictable. He could kill her at any second.

“You were a fool to trust a rival. Your entire family were idiots,” he says, glaring at me.

I’ll never understand why he did what he did. Life was good the way we had it, and he fucked it up. Taking a few steps closer to Gwen, I shake my head. “No, you were the idiot. There’s more to life than money and power. Friendship and love are as important and you have neither.”

Piero laughs. “Says the man who drove his closest friend into the arms of his enemy?”

He’s right. I treated Smyth like a servant beneath me when he’s been there from the start. My rage has eaten away at me for years, blinding me to any good around me. Until Gwen. She’s brought me back from the dead and given me a second chance, if I can get us out of this mess.

I take a few steps, hoping he doesn’t notice my intention. And that’s when a gunshot stops me in my tracks. I glance behind Piero to see Tilly’s eyes narrow and smoke coming from the barrel.

“What the fuck did you do that for?” Piero asks, sounding irritated. “You know he was mine to finish!”

“Cillian!” Gwen screams my name.

Pain ricochets through my body as I grab the side of my abdomen and stumble, my legs no longer able to hold me as I fall to the concrete beneath me. My head making impact with the sidewalk.

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